ROLLERCOASTERS

"I'm Coming Home."

Love is a remedy to pain, but when love is forced or fake, it becomes the cause of the pain.

- Christine Reginald-Ukwuoma

It was a fun night because I spent some quality bonding time with my mum. We slept in each other's arms. As I closed my eyes and everything went dark, I started seeing a glimmer of light. Then I heard Dior calling my name, it was as if she needed me to see her or something, because I could only hear her voice but I didn't see her. I followed her voice that took me towards the light. Then another funny thing happened; as I went closer to the light, it went further away from me. It was like a horizon; as you get closer, it gets further away from you. Dior's voice also seemed impossible to reach, I think it was connected to the light, therefore if I could reach the light then I would see my Dior once again. I gathered all my energy and ran the fastest I could towards the light, I even felt the adrenaline rush in my sleep. I could feel the breeze in my ears and the wind lifting my hair up, as I continued the race to save my sister. Suddenly, the ground opened, and I fell right into it. There, I saw Theodora and my dad in their house, with a pair of twins. I was happy for them but sad at the same time; I felt happy that my dad got his happily ever after, but I wasn't so happy that my mom was all alone. Then all of that suddenly disappeared once again. Then, I was at the national park again, the one I and Dior used to love to go to as kids. Dior was sitting on the swing, I ran to hug her once again but she disappeared, and I heard her voice saying,

"I'm coming home, Belle... finally."

I was confused.

That was the last thing that happened in my dream. I continued to sleep till the next morning.

When I woke up, I felt like going for a run, so I went for it. I jogged all around my street twice, and I felt on top of the world, I felt like I was finally gonna get my Dior back! Nothing was better than that!! I saw an ice cream shop, and I thought, why not? I went into the shop and bought a tall sundae. I received a call from my mum,

"Baby, the hospital called, something happened to Dior, they told us to come to the hospital right now!!"

The call ended, and I started panicking. Too impatient to wait for an Uber, I jogged all the way to the hospital. In the moment, I ran up the stairs and found myself in Dior's room. I was in shock! The tears could not be held back. I put my hands above my head, then used it to cover my face. I was dumbfounded!

Dior was convulsing, I was panicking more than ever. I just stood and watched, as about five doctors surrounded her, with the nurses beside her, trying to do their best to stop the situation. I ran to my mum, with tears falling from my eyes. My dad and Theodora were also in the room.

"Mom, why's she doing that? What's happening to her? Mom tell me!!", my voice was shaking because I was crying. She hugged me and said,

"She's going to be fine baby, don't you worry a bit."

I got angry and said, "DON'T LIE TO ME MOM!!!"

"It's okay, baby, It's okay", she tried to hide her face from me, "MOM, STOP LYING TO ME! I KNOW YOU'RE LYING!!"

I stormed out of the room and banged the door. Then all the tears started rolling down again. I walked back and forth in the waiting room while I wept bitterly and loudly. Then I went out for a jog, I don't know why, but it felt good in the moment. It was 12:47pm by my watch, and I was tired of jogging, so I started walking back to the hospital. I saw a huge crowd gathering under a tall building. I wondered what they were doing and why, so I ran to see what was going on. When I reached, I saw my schoolteacher, Mr Steve, and I asked him,

"What's going on sir?"

"It's Mary-anne, I don't know what is going through her head."

"MARY ANNE??? Where is she?"

"Look up!"

There she was! Standing on the balcony of the hospital. Mary-anne wanted to KILL HERSELF!!!???!! She was standing at the edge of the building, probably contemplating if she should jump or not. I felt the strong adrenaline rush through my entire body, as I ran up to twenty five flights of stairs in under three minutes. I got to the top of the building, and she was still there. She was in the elevated part of the balcony.

"Mary-anne please don't do this!", I said with the fear of losing her in my head.

"Why do you care? After Dior's accident, did you even bother to reach out? After everything that happened to Dior, no one even cared about me anymore. I don't blame y'all, I was a burden. Well let me do y'all a favour and take myself out of the equation."

"Think about your family, Mary, your mom your dad? You're their only child, how would they feel?

"You know nothing about how they would feel. My dad assaulted my mom and I every single day. You guys were my only escape route, you were the only way I forgot about it all. It was only Dior that I confided in and before she went into the coma, I called her a whore and a slut and that was why she left the party so angrily. After our friendship ended, that same night, my mom left us. My mom was the only person that loved me in that family but turns out she didn't love me that much. She left without even saying goodbye to me, leaving me at the mercy of my assaulting dad. I don't blame her. I was a burden to her too."

"You know that's not true!"

"How do you know it's not?? I'M A BURDEN TO EVERYONE I MEET!!! I AM THE REASON FOR DIOR'S CONDITION!!!"

"You're not a burden to me, You're not a burden to Adrian, you're not a burden to Ariana, you're not a burden to Diaz, and you're definitely not a burden to Dior. We all love you so much, Mary-anne. Please don't do this!!" The tears started coming out of my eyes once again.

She laughed, "Of course you would say that, I want to end my life, and suddenly everyone wants to be best buddies again huh? I don't think so. Goodbye Lisa don't blame yourself, this was inevitable. Oh yeah, and tell Dior that I really am sorry. I'm sorry Jesus!"

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!", I screamed, but it didn't stop her from jumping down. My whole body was shaking, I was traumatised. The tears were uncontrollable. I couldn't move my body, trauma was written all over my face. Then my phone rang, It was Diaz.

"Hey Liz, called to check if you were okay... Are you?"

Silence followed because I was unable to say anything, still shaking with shock and fear. Everything continued to spin in slow motion.

"Are you there?"

All my mouth could say was, "She's dead, and I couldn't stop it."

"What are you saying?? Who's dead? Is it Dior?? Where are you?? TALK TO ME!!! I'm coming to the hospital right away."

He cut the call, and I didn't say another word.

911 finally came, and they saw me in the same spot I was in. I didn't even move an inch. They tried to snap me out of it but were unsuccessful. I just kept on saying,

"She's dead and I couldn't stop it.. She's dead and I couldn't stop it!!!" They tried to walk with me, but I was unable to move an inch. So they carried me down the staircase, and into the paramedic van. There were two vans, the first one was the one that Mary anne was put in (May God bless her soul), and the second one was the one I was in. Behind us, I saw Diaz's car, and that was the last thing I saw before I passed out. Then, I saw Dior and Mary Anne together. It was like Dior knew about Mary's passing, and they hugged each other one last time. Mary Anne came to me, and said,

"Don't you worry about me, I made my choice. There's no going back for me, but you have your whole life ahead of you, don't waste it. Everything happens for a reason. Don't make the mistake that I did, believe me, heaven is real and hell is even more real. The best thing you can do now, is to love God, and you will have no more regrets. I love you Lisa, everything happens for a reason."